Carrying bag

ABSTRACT

A carrying bag is provided which may enable the content contained therein to be removed from the carrying bag without being damaged. This may be made possible by different parts of the carrying bag, which may be flexibly joint to one another, and by sidewalls having both moving elements as well as special joining means. The carrier bag may be worn over the shoulders by means of straps or the like and may be particularly suited for carrying and/or emptying delicate goods.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is a continuation-in-part of InternationalApplication No. PCT/CH2003/000573, filed Aug. 25, 2003, which claims thebenefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Switzerland Application No. 1884/02,filed Nov. 11, 2002, incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a carrying bag.

TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

According to the prior art, carrying bags are used which serve forgathering or picking-up of fruits. Such carrying bags may be made ofdeformable material, whereby the content can be damaged from outside.Alternatively, such carrying bags may be made of non-deformable materialwhich may rub at the body of the picker. The emptying of such carryingbags may be carried out by means of laying-out the bag or by opening thebottom of the bag. Thereby, due to danger of damage, the carrying bagcannot be put down when completely filled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There may be a need for a carrying bag being convenient in use.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a carrying bag isprovided, comprising a front plate, a bottom plate, a back plate,flexible side elements, padded elements, and a first fastening element.The bottom plate may be arranged between the front plate and the backplate. The padded elements may be arranged between the bottom plate, thefront plate and the back plate on the one hand and the flexible sideelements on the other hand. The first fastening element may be arrangedat the flexible side elements, and a second fastening element may bearranged at a carrying belt in such a manner that the carrying bag isclosable by connecting the first fastening element with the secondfastening element.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a carryingbag having the above-mentioned features may be used for receivingpicked-up fruits.

The carrying bag according to an embodiment of the invention may bemanufactured in a cheap manner, may be convenient in use and maysecurely prevent content received in the carrying bag from beingdamaged. By providing a front plate, a bottom plate and a back platewhich may be made from a rigid material and which may be bendable withrespect to each other, a rigid and stable base unit may be providedwhich can be laterally closed by flexible side elements. When a carryingbelt allowing a human user to carry the carrying bag (for instance onthe shoulders and/or on the neck) is attached to the carrying bag (forinstance the back plate), the carrying bag may be closed by laterallylifting up or raising the flexible elements and by fixing a firstfastening element provided at the end of the flexible side elements at asecond fastening element provided at the carrying belt and providedcorresponding to the first fastening element.

A carrying bag according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention mayallow that a filling material can be put in the carrying bag from anabove position, and when the carrying bag shall be emptied, this may beperformed from one or more lateral sides of the carrying bag, forinstance by means of releasing the first fastening element(s) from thesecond fastening element(s). Thus, filling goods like fruits may besecurely prevented from being damaged when being picked-up, when beingtransported in the carrying bag and when being removed from the carryingbag.

Further, the carrying bag according to an exemplary embodiment of theinvention may be convenient to use by a human being collecting fruits orusing the carrying bag for another purpose.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a carrying bag isprovided which may be stiff at the body side of a user, but may lieagainst the body of the user without corners or edges. Moreover, thecarrying bag may comprise a fixed and rigid bottom plate, and may thusbe put down also in a filled state without damaging the content receivedin the carrying bag.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a carrying bag isprovided which may comprise moveable side parts, which may laterallysupport the content of the carrying bag preventing that the content isdamaged from outside. By means of an optional separating wall in thecarrying bag, items (for instance fruits) of different qualities may besorted in different chambers of the carrying bag defined by theseparating wall(s), so that it may be prevented that the sorted itemsundesirably come into contact with each other or mix. Through at leastone emptying position which may be provided at the side parts of thecarrying bag, the content may be emptied gently in a damage preventingmanner and in an optically controllable and adjustable manner.

The carrying bag according to an exemplary embodiment of the inventionmay be appropriate for delicate or sensitive goods and may allow for adamage preventing or gentle emptying.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a carrying bag isprovided which may enable the content contained therein to be removedfrom the carrying bag without being damaged. This may be made possibleby different parts of the carrying bag, which may be flexibly joint toone another, and by sidewalls having both moving elements as well asspecial joining means. The carrier bag may be worn over the shoulders bymeans of straps or the like and may be particularly suited for carryingand/or emptying delicate goods.

Referring to the dependent claims, further exemplary embodiments of theinvention will be described.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the carrying bagmay have rigid elements as the bottom plate, the front plate and/or theback plate. In other words, the bottom plate, the front plate and/or theback plate may be manufactured of undeformable material which mayincrease the stability of the carrying bag.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the bottomplate, the front plate and the back plate may be manufactured out of acasting mold. This may allow for a cheap manufacture of the carryingbag.

The front plate and the back plate may be provided bendable with respectto the bottom plate. In other words, a border region between the frontplate and the bottom plate, and between the back plate and the bottomplate may be made from a material which may allow to flexibly fold thedifferent plates with respect to each other. For instance, the threeplates may be folded to form an essentially U-shaped structure.

The carrying bag may further comprise a carrying belt which may befastenable at the back plate or at any other component of the carryingbag. When the carrying belt is fastened at the back plate, the carryingbag may be conveniently worn by a human user just putting the carryingbelt above her or his head so that the rest of the carrying bag isarranged in front of the user, for convenient use. The carrying bag maybe worn and supported by means of a user's head, neck and/or shoulders.

Particularly, the carrying belt may be fastenable at the back plate in afixed manner or in a movable manner.

For instance, one or more fixation holes can be provided in the backplate, wherein the carrying belt may be fixed by means of a fixingelement corresponding to the fixation holes (see FIG. 3).

Alternatively, the fixation means on the back plate may be realized asan oblong or elongated hole (optionally in arc shape) in which afastening element (for instance a pin or the like) may be inserted (seeFIG. 3).

Moreover, the carrying belt may comprise the second fastening elementwhich, in conjunction with the first fastening element arranged at theflexible side element, may form a secure and reliable connection bymeans of which that the carrying bag may be brought into a closed state.

According to still another exemplary embodiment of the invention, theflexible side elements and the padded elements may be manufactured ofpreformed material and may selectively be inserted in or taken out ofthe carrying bag. Thus, a modular system at a carrying bag is createdwhich is cheap in manufacture and which allow an easy cleaning of thesystem.

Furthermore, the carrying bag may comprise a third fastening elementarranged at the front plate and a fourth fastening element arranged atthe back plate. The third fastening element may be connectable to thefourth fastening element to connect the front plate with the back platevia the padded elements, particularly around at least a part of thecircumference of the carrying bag. By taking this measure, the stabilityof the carrying bag may be increased.

Particularly, the third fastening element may be arranged at a corner ofthe front plate, and the fourth fastening element may be arranged at acorner of the back plate. It is also possible to provide a plurality ofthird fastening elements at different corners of the front plate and toprovide a plurality of first fastening elements at different corners ofthe back plate. This geometrical configuration may allow for a secureclosure of the carrying bag.

Beyond this, the carrying bag may comprise at least one separation wallbetween the front plate and the back plate to separate a receivingvolume of the carrying bag into separated sub-volumes by means of the atleast one separation wall. In other words, by using one or more of suchseparation walls, different portions in which content may be received inthe carrying bag may be defined and separated. For instance, fruits ofdifferent quality levels may be put in the different receivingsub-volumes so as to prevent that the fruits of different material maymix and have to be sorted again. This allows a separation already duringthe picking or gathering procedure and may thus decrease the costs. Theseparation wall may be realized as a panel or may also be realized astwo panels which are arranged essentially perpendicular with one anotherso as to form an “×” or a “+” from a top view. Other shapes, like “∥” or“

” are possible as well. The separation wall may be provided essentiallyperpendicular or essentially parallel to the bending parts of the frontplate, the bottom plate and the back plate.

The at least one separation wall may be flexibly adjustable between thefront plate and the back plate. In other words, the sizes and/or theshapes of the defined sub-volumes may be adjusted in accordance with aparticular application.

The at least one separation wall may comprise a through hole and a rodguided through the through hole. Furthermore, a hole may be provided ina bottom inner surface of the carrying bag. The at least one separationwall may be fastenable in the carrying bag by inserting a bottom part ofthe rod in the hole.

An upper end of the rod may comprise a lever adapted to remove theseparation wall from the hole by raising the lever to thereby remove thebottom part of the rod from the hole.

The carrying bag may further comprise a plurality of engaging elementsat an inside surface and/or at an upper surface of the carrying bag,wherein the at least one separation wall may be fastenable to at least apart of the plurality of engaging elements.

Moreover, the at least one separation wall may comprise protrusions atupper corners, wherein the at least one separation wall may befastenable by engaging the protrusions with at least a part of theplurality of engaging elements.

Furthermore, the carrying bag may comprise at least one handle which maybe arranged at the front plate and/or at the back plate. Such a handlemay allow to transport the carrying bag by means of a user's hand,similar like a suitcase, in an operation state in which a user hasremoved the carrying belt from his body.

Beyond this, the carrying bag may be adapted to empty content receivedin the carrying bag from a lateral position. By taking this measure, adamage preventing emptying of the carrying bag may be possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, carrying bags according to exemplary embodiments of theinvention will be described.

FIG. 1 illustrates a carrying bag according to an exemplary embodimentof the invention in an open state.

FIG. 2 illustrates the carrying bag of FIG. 1 in a closed state.

FIG. 3 illustrates a carrying bag according to an exemplary embodimentof the invention in a closed state.

FIG. 4 illustrates a carrying bag according to an exemplary embodimentof the invention in a closed state.

FIG. 5 illustrates a separation wall of the carrying bag of FIG. 4according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The illustration in the drawing is schematically. In different drawings,similar or identical elements are provided with the same referencesigns.

In the following, referring to FIG. 1, a carrying bag according to anexemplary embodiment of the invention will be described.

The carrying bag shown in FIG. 1 comprises a rigid front plate 1 c, arigid bottom plate 1 b and a rigid back plate la. The bottom plate 1 bis arranged between the back plate 1 a and the front plate 1 c and canbe bended with respect to the front plate 1 c and with respect to theback plate 1 a via bending portions 11 and 12, respectively.

Furthermore, the carrying bag of FIG. 1 has flexible side elements 3 andpadded or cushioned regions 2. Furthermore, first fastening elements 7are provided at the flexible side elements 3 as bands having an eyeletor a loop or the like (not shown in FIG. 1).

The padded elements 2 are arranged between the bottom plate 1 b, thefront plate 1 c and the back plate 1 a on the one hand and the flexibleside elements 3 on the other hand. Furthermore, the first fasteningelements 7 are arranged at the flexible side elements 3, and secondfastening elements 5 a, corresponding to the first fastening elements 7,are attached to a carrying belt 6. The second fastening elements 5 a maybe realized as hooks or the like, as can be seen from FIG. 1 or FIG. 2.

The carrying bag which is shown in FIG. 1 in an open state and in FIG. 2in a closed state can be closed by connecting the first fasteningelements 7 to the second fastening elements 5 a after having pulled upthe flexible side elements 3.

As can further be seen from FIG. 1, the fastening belt 6 is fastened atthe back plate 1 a by connecting a pin or the like (not shown) providedat the carrying belt 6 to a corresponding hole 5 provided in the backplate la. Thus, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the carrying belt maybe fastened at the back plate la in a fixed manner.

When the eyelets of the fastening elements 7 are lifted up and connectedto the corresponding hooks 5 a, the rigid plate elements 1 a to 1 c arebended at the bending portions 11, 12 to form a basically U-shapedstructure. The sides of this U-shaped structure are closed by theflexible side walls 3 which snugly and flexibly cover the side holes ofthe U-shaped structure.

Then, a user may carry the carrying belt 6 around his neck or shouldersand may gather or pick up fruits and put the fruits from above in thecarrying bag which is then in the closed state (see FIG. 2).

The carrying bag shown in FIG. 1 comprises the undeformable parts 1 a, 1b, 1 c, the cushioned or padded parts 2 and the moveable parts 3. Themoveable parts 3 may be drawn together at the corners and form thecarrying bag. The fixed parts 1 a and 1 c may be connected to each otherat the corners by means of flexible elements 4 in order to prevent aleaking out of the content. The carrying bag is connected to thecarrying belt 6 at at least one point 5 in a fixed (FIG. 1) ordisplaceable (FIG. 3) manner.

The carrying bag of FIG. 1 may allow for a damage preventing or gentleemptying of contents like gathered fruits. The element la is provided atthe body side of a human being carrying the carrying bag. Furthermore,the carrying bag comprises the bottom plate 1 b and the front section 1c. The moveable or bendable elements 3 and the elastically cushionedwall elements 2 are provided, are drawn up by means of connectingsections (to form side parts) and are connected to the carrying belt 6or are pivoted downwards and fixed. The emptying of the carrying bag maybe effected through at least one side wall, which may be brought to thelevel of the bottom plate 1 b.

FIG. 1 shows the carrying bag in an outspread state. The carrying bagcomprises the undeformable parts 1 a to 1 c which may be bent withrespect to each other, the cushioned parts 2, and the moveable parts 3.An adjustable connection 5 and a connection 7 are connected to thecarrying belt 6 and to the fastening element 5 a, respectively.Therefore, the carrying bag is fastened with point 5 and point 7 at thecarrying belt 6 and the hooks 5 a.

In the carrying bag , the body section 1 a, the bottom plate 1 b and thefront section 1 c may be embodied in a rigid manner and may be connectedto each other in a flexible or bendable manner.

The body section 1 a, by means of the attachment means 5, may beconnected to the carrying belt 6. The moveable parts 3, by means of oneor more connection elements 7, may be connected to a carrying beltconnection part 5 a.

The carrying bag may be adapted in such a manner that the body section 1a with the bottom plate 1 b and the front section 1 c are embodied asout of a casting mold.

The insertion formed of the moveable elements 3 and of the cushionedelements 2 may be connected to the fixedly embodied parts 1 a to 1 c bymeans of connecting means.

Elements 1 a to 1 c may be realized as firm sections. At the side,flexible elements 3 may be provided with additional material to form anopening.

The insertion in the form of the moveable elements 3 and of thecushioned elements 2 may be made of preformed material and mayselectively be inserted or taken out.

In order to ensure that the carrying bag remains standing at the groundwithout emptying of its content, the corner points of elements 1 a and 1c may be connected by means of flexible elements 4.

Furthermore, the body section 1 a may be fixedly connected to thecarrier belt 6 by means of the point 5. However, as may be taken fromFIG. 3, the body section 1 a may be connected movably to the carrierbelt 6.

Between the body section la and the front section 1 c, the carrying bagmay be connected by means of a separation wall.

FIG. 2 shows the carrying bag of FIG. 1 in a closed state.

In this operation state, the carrying bag is connected at the corners ofthe undeformable parts 1 a and 1 c by means of flexible elements 4,wherein the moveable side parts 3 are adjustably mounted to the carryingbelt 5 a.

In the following, referring to FIG. 3, a carrying bag in a closed stateaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the invention will be described.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the body section 1 a may be fixedlyconnected to the carrier belt 6 by means of the point 5. However, in theembodiment shown in FIG. 3, the body section 1 a may be connectedmovably to the carrier belt 6.

For this purpose, an oblong and arc-shaped hole 22 is provided in theback plate 1 a. A pin 25 is received in the oblong and arc-shaped hole22 at an adjustable position so that the fastening between the backplate la and carrying belt 6 can be modified by a user.

In the following, referring to FIG. 4, a carrying bag according to anexemplary embodiment of the invention will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a three-dimensional view of the carrying bag in a closedstate. The carrying bag comprises grips or handles 16 a and 16 b.Further, a partition wall 15 is provided dividing the filling space ofthe carrying bag into a first portion 18 and into a second portion 19.The partition wall 15 may be flexibly adjusted to define the size of thefirst portion 18 and of the second portion 19. Thus, a fruit pick basketis provided which allows to separate two different kinds of fruits ortwo different qualities of fruits. By operating a fastening element 17,gathered items may be emptied in a lateral manner.

At the inside and/or at the upper surface of the carrying bag of FIG. 4,a plurality of engaging elements 22 are provided. The engaging elements22 are grouped to form a plurality of pairs of engaging elements 22which are provided at opposing inner surfaces of the carrying bag. Ascan be taken from FIG. 4, the separation wall 15 is fastened at two ofthe engaging elements 22 forming a grouped pair. By taking this measure,it is possible to adjust the position at which the separation wall ismounted in the carrying bag. Therefore, the sizes of the sub-volumesdefined by the position at which the separation wall is mounted in thecarrying bag can be flexibly set in accordance with a particularapplication.

In addition to the fastening of the separation wall 15 at two of theengaging elements 22 provided at the inner essentially vertical surfacesof the carrying bag, the separation wall 15 may additionally be fastenedat the bottom inner surface of the carrying bag.

The latter aspect will be described in more detail referring to FIG. 5illustrating a detailed view of the separation wall 15 in a state inwhich it is removed from the carrying bag.

As can be taken from FIG. 5, a through hole is provided in a centralportion of the separation wall 15. Through this through, a connectingrod 24 is guided. A pin 21 at a bottom end of the connecting rod 24 isadapted to be fastenable in a corresponding hole (not shown) which maybe provided in the bottom inner surface of the carrying bag. At a topend of the connecting rod 24, a lever 20 is provided which may be pulledup by a user in order to remove the separation wall 15 from the carryingbag.

Furthermore, protrusions 23 may be provided at upper corners of theseparation wall 15. These protrusions 23 may support or fasten theseparation wall 15 by engaging two of the engaging elements 22.

After having picked up two different qualities of fruits collected inthe two chambers 18, 19, the fruits of the first quality may be emptiedfirst by operating the fastening element 17. Subsequently, theseparation wall 15 may be removed from the carrying bag. Thereby, thefruits of the second quality may be emptied.

It should be noted that the term “comprising” does not exclude otherelements or steps and the “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. Alsoelements described in association with different embodiments may becombined.

It should also be noted that reference signs in the claims shall not beconstrued as limiting the scope of the claims.

1. A carrying bag, comprising a front plate; a bottom plate; a backplate; flexible side elements; padded elements; a first fasteningelement; wherein the bottom plate is arranged between the front plateand the back plate; wherein the padded elements are arranged between thebottom plate, the front plate and the back plate on the one hand and theflexible side elements on the other hand; wherein the first fasteningelement is arranged at the flexible side elements and a second fasteningelement is arranged at a carrying belt in such a manner that thecarrying bag is closable by connecting the first fastening element withthe second fastening element.
 2. The carrying bag according to claim 1,wherein the bottom plate, the front plate and the back plate areprovided as rigid elements.
 3. The carrying bag according to claim 1,wherein the bottom plate, the front plate and the back plate aremanufactured out of a casting mold.
 4. The carrying bag according toclaim 1, wherein the front plate and the back plate are providedbendable with respect to the bottom plate.
 5. The carrying bag accordingto claim 1, comprising the carrying belt which is fastenable at leastone of the group consisting of the back plate and the front belt and theflexible side elements.
 6. The carrying bag according to claim 5,wherein the carrying belt is fastenable in a fixed manner or in amovable manner.
 7. The carrying bag according to claim 5, wherein thecarrying belt comprises the second fastening element.
 8. The carryingbag according to claim 1, wherein the flexible side elements and thepadded elements are manufactured of preformed material and mayselectively be inserted in or taken out of the carrying bag.
 9. Thecarrying bag according to claim 1, comprising a third fastening elementarranged at the front plate and a fourth fastening element arranged atthe back plate, wherein the third fastening element is connectable tothe fourth fastening element to connect the front plate with the backplate via the padded elements.
 10. The carrying bag according to claim9, wherein the third fastening element is arranged at a corner of thefront plate, and wherein the fourth fastening element is arranged at acorner of the back plate.
 11. The carrying bag according to claim 1,comprising at least one separation wall between the front plate and theback plate to separate a receiving volume of the carrying bag into atleast two separated sub-volumes by means of the at least one separationwall.
 12. The carrying bag according to claim 11, wherein the at leastone separation wall is flexibly adjustable between the front plate andthe back plate.
 13. The carrying bag according to claim 11, wherein theat least one separation wall comprises a through hole and a rod guidedthrough the through hole, wherein a hole is provided in a bottom innersurface of the carrying bag, wherein the at least one separation wall isfastenable in the carrying bag by inserting a bottom part of the rod inthe hole.
 14. The carrying bag according to claim 13, wherein an upperend of the rod comprises a lever adapted to remove the separation wallfrom the hole by raising the lever to thereby remove the bottom part ofthe rod from the hole.
 15. The carrying bag according to claim 11,comprising a plurality of engaging elements at an inside surface and/orat an upper surface of the carrying bag, wherein the at least oneseparation wall is fastenable to at least a part of the plurality ofengaging elements.
 16. The carrying bag according to claim 15, whereinthe at least one separation wall comprises protrusions at upper corners,wherein the at least one separation wall is fastenable by engaging theprotrusions with at least a part of the plurality of engaging elements.17. The carrying bag according to claim 1, comprising at least onehandle arranged at the front plate and/or at the back plate.
 18. Thecarrying bag according to claim 1, adapted to laterally empty contentreceived in the carrying bag.